With all the talk about how Rex Ryan is reportedly “smitten,” with DE/OLB Barkevious Mingo, John Idzik quietly came to an agreement with a different outside linebacker. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Calvin Pace has signed a one-year deal to stay with the team.
This move will by no means stop the Jets from drafting Mingo, if Ryan really is as smitten as they say, or any other DE/OLB with their first pick. They could still go offensive line with their first pick and address the pass rush in the second (or with a potential pick from the Bucs in a Revis trade), either way Ryan will make sure he finds someone he believes can be turned into a pass rushing machine at some point in this draft.
The decision to bring back Pace comes down to three factors; depth, veteran experience and an affordable price tag (terms of the deal are not yet available but it’s sure to be far short of the six-year, $42 million deal he signed when he first joined the Jets).
Pace failed to live up to his first contract with the Jets (an gigantic understatement but he surely wasn’t the only one), but the decision to bring him back with his familiarity of the defense and use him as more of a situational player for an inexpensive price tag made this an easy decision for Idzik.
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What happened to “rebuilding?”
Why not Harrison or Dansby?
Scjoe..I agree…why not Dansby?…still say that the new GM is rebuilding..but I have to hear the reasoning behind this re-signing..
Dansby is out of the Jets price range (also an inside LB, Harris & Demario Davis will handle those duties), Harrison is old, slow and beat up. Pace was signed for his experience and depth purposes and most i portantly for cheap. Details haven’t been released but it’s going to be low cost one-year deal, it’s actually a perfect signing for a rebuilding team, can’t all be young guys, vets are needed as well. He’ll also have a much smaller role, even assuming they draft an OLB or two they still need bodies at the position and a vet with familiarity of Rex’s defense is ideal. Now by no means am I suggesting he’ll suddenly turn into an impact player, but that’s not what they signed him for.